Star Pakistani batter Babar Azam entered his name in the record books on Thursday, April 9, by becoming the fastest batter in the world to score 12,000 runs in T20s. Babar, who is playing his 351st T20 match
on Thursday in Karachi, scored his 12000th T20 run in the 338th innings. Before Babar, the record of being the fastest batter in the world to score 12,000 runs in T20s was held by former West Indies skipper Chris Gayle.
Gayle, who is the highest run-getter in T20s, scored his 12,000th T20 run in the 343rd innings. India’s star batter Virat Kohli is in third place with 360 innings.
Fastest to 12,000 runs in T20s (in terms of innings)
- Babar Azam (Pakistan) – 338 innings
- Chris Gayle (West Indies) – 343 innings
- Virat Kohli (India) – 360 innings
Babar needed 13 runs in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2026 match between Peshawar Zalmi and Karachi Kings to join the 12,000-run club in T20s, and he achieved the objective in the fourth over of Zalmi’s innings.
Babar is the second Pakistani batter overall to score at least 12,000 runs in T20s.
The record for scoring the most runs in T20s by a Pakistani batter is held by Shoaib Malik. Malik played a total of 557 T20 matches from 2005 to 2025 and amassed a total of 13,571 runs.
Most runs by Pakistan batters in T20s
| PLAYER | MATCHES | RUNS |
| Shoaib Malik | 557 | 13571 |
| Babar Azam | 351* | 12,074* |
| Mohammad Rizwan | 306 | 8918 |
| Fakhar Zaman | 334 | 8631 |
| Mohammad Hafeez | 374 | 7946 |
| Ahmed Shehzad | 257 | 7011 |
| Kamran Akmal | 291 | 6775 |
| Iftikhar Ahmed | 320 | 6134 |
| Umar Akmal | 279 | 5839 |
| Sahibzada Farhan | 169 | 5220 |
Babar opened the innings for Peshawar Zalmi in the 17th league match of PSL 2026 and remained unbeaten on 87 runs from 51 balls. He hammered 10 fours and 2 sixes during his stay at the crease and added 191 runs from 97 balls for the second wicket with Kusal Mendis to help PZ post a total of 246 runs for the loss of 3 wickets in 20 overs.
Sri Lankan wicketkeeper-batter Mendis top-scored for Zalmi against Kings by playing a knock of 109 runs. He faced 52 balls and hammered 14 fours and 4 sixes. After Mendis’ dismissal in the 17th over, Abdul Samad smacked 3 fours and 4 sixes to play an unbeaten knock of 40 runs from just 12 balls. He added 49 runs from 18 balls for the fourth wicket with Babar.
